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TOUR REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION 2006
Requirements, Recommendations (and other conditions) for Tour Events on the IRF Racketlon World Tour
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rev A, by Hans, 2005-12-11
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Introduction

This document contains requirements, recommendations and some other conditions for tour events on the 2006 IRF Racketlon World Tour. In return for the commitment to comply with the requirements in this document selected tournament directors are offered Tour Status, which in practice means the opportunity to attract an international field of entries. The ability of tour events to comply with these requirements will be monitored and might influence the chances of an event to enjoy continued tour status.

Requirements and Recommendations on Tour Events

1) "All you really need to book your flights".

GEST (Guaranteed Earliest Start Time) and GLET (Guaranteed Latest End Time) for the tournament must be published on the internet (e.g. on the Racketlon.com Breaking News) at least 3 months before tournament start. In order to facilitate the booking of flights in advance.

2) Tour Status Fee

Each tour event is required to pay a fee of 2 Euro per player that takes parts in the event.

The fee shall be paid to the IRF within one week after the event.

3) Classes

3.1) Naming

The levels within each ranking category shall be named according to the following conventions:
Class A (Elite)
Class B (Advanced)
Class C (Amateur)
Class D (Beginner)

The age classes shall be named and defined in accordance with the following conventions:
"Juniors, under 21" or "U21", open to all players that turn 21 during the season (calendar year), and younger (i.e. it is enough for the condition "<21" to be fulfilled at some point during season).
"Veterans, over 45" or "45+", open to all players that turn 45 during the season (calendar year), and older (i.e. it is enough for the condition ">45" to be fulfilled at some point during season).

3.2) Class Allocation

Organisers are recommended to use the classification (A, B, C, D) given in the world ranking for the allocation of players to classes in the event - in the following way: A player that is classed "A" in the world ranking should not be allowed to play in any of the lower classes. A player classed "B" in the world ranking should not be allowed to play in the "C" class. etc.

In addition organisers are recommended to force players who reached the semi-finals in the same event last year to take part in a higher class.

3.3) Class Offering

It is a requirement on tour events to offer a 45+ class.

The following age classes - and no others(!!) - will be recorded for ranking purposes
Juniors:
U11, U16, U21
Veterans:
40+, 45+, 50+, 55+ and above in bands of 5 years.

If there is not enough demand for the 5-year bands above the IRF recommends tour event organisers to offer veterans classes according to the following 10-year bands:
45, 55, 65 etc..

4) Format

The racketlon format (defined by the three principles described in the introduction to the IRF rules) is a requirement on tour events.

In excerpt from the rules:
The following three principles need to be fulfilled in order for a sport to qualify for the term Racketlon:
- The game must include the following four sports: table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis
- The game must be built on the concept of a racketlon match involving the same two individuals (pairs in doubles) playing each other in all four sports - with equivalent sets being played in each sport.
- Each rally must count. The player (pair) who wins most rallies is the winner of the racketlon match.

It is a recommendation that the official rules of the IRF are followed. For the World Championships it is a requirement.

However, if the IRF has launched an official test period for a new rule tournaments are recommended to test the new rule.

5) Equipment and Facilities

5.1) Orange table tennis balls. It is as requirement on Tour events that the balls used for table tennis have the colour orange - unless there is a good reason to avoid it (e.g. orange walls).

5.2) Feathers in all classes. It is a requirement on Tour events that feather shuttle cocks are used in all classes.

5.3) Protective Glasses. It is a recommendation (as stated in the IRF rules) that organisers require protective glasses to be worn in squash, for all classes except elite.

5.4) Practice Courts. It is a recommendation that organisers provide practice courts at least two hours before tournament start.

5.5) Court capacity. Organisers should be adviced that a minimum of three courts in tennis and two courts of all the other sports is needed to run a schedule with two parallel matches starting every 15 minutes.

6) Minimum 2 matches

It is a requirement on tour events to guarantee at least two matches for all players.

It is a recommendation to guarantee at least three matches for players travelling from abroad.

7) Nationalities in the Draw

The nationality of the players must be clearly indicated in the draw. (This is for ranking purposes and also for the marketing effect that it has to show that racketlon is an international sport.)

It is a recommendation to separate, to a reasonable degree, players of the same nationality in the draw since we want to avoid having discouraged players who travel long distance and get to play their training partner from home. It is a requirement that they do not face each other in the first round (if that is theoretically avoidable).

8) Reporting

8.1) Results Reporting
8.1.1) It is recommended that all results, including detailed scores in each set, are posted in the racket centre within 1 hour of each match end so that the audience can follow the tournament results as they develop.

8.1.2) It is a requirement that results - as of the quarter finals - in all "Top" classes (i.e. Men's Elite, Ladies' Elite, Junior, Veteran) are reported, on the last day of the event before 18:00 on the Breaking News function on Racketlon.com according to a specified format (see format requirements). (The main purpose of this requirement is to make it easy for local media responsibles to report the result to national/local newspapers by means of copy-paste into simple e-mails. Let's make an effort to get out tour event results into newspapers! That is not difficult. The papers will appreciate it. And it has the potential to raise awareness considerably.)

8.1.3) Results for World Ranking. It is a requirement on tour organisers that the results are recorded for ranking purposes and delivered to the compiler of the ranking within five days after the event. The compiler needs to know the following:
- Full names. First and Last names of all participants.
- Nationality clearly identified
- Who won each match?
- Players in the draw that did not show up (walk-overs) must be clearly marked (so that they are not rewarded any attendance points or counted as attending the tournament).
- Players who did not show up and were not replaced must be left in the draw so that walk-overs are visible (since walk-over victories give as many ranking points as a victory through actual play).
- Since quarter finals, semi finals and finals give bonus ranking points these matches need to be clearly identified.
- In short, the best way to report the results is through a drawing sheet.

8.1.4) Internet results. It is recommended that all results, including detailed scores in each set, are posted on the internet within one week of the event.

8.2) Descriptive Reporting
Tour organisers are required to write at least two descriptive reports (no matter how short) on the Racketlon.com Breaking News function. One "Tournament Preview" 7-2 days before tournament start and one "Tournament Review" on the day after end of tournament (at the latest). (This is to inject some further life into the IRF homepage. Breaking News reports of high enough quality and future interest will continuously be copied over to the ordinary Racketlon.com News section for increased visibility like at present. Additional reports - at any time and on any subject - are always welcome and can either be posted on Breaking News or sent by e-mail to webmaster @ racketlon.com )

In addition, tournament organisers are recommended to make photos from the tournament available to Racketlon.com.

9) Seeding

The following are requirements on the World Championships elite draws:
- One fourth of the positions in the used "draw sheet" should contain seeded players. (e.g. Given a number of participants lower than 48 (and at least 24) there should be 8 seeded players.)
- The seeded players should be chosen strictly according to the world ranking
- The positions of the seeded players shall be decided through "pairwise randomization" (meaning that No.1 plays either 7 or 8 in the quarterfinal; No.2 plays 7 or 8; 3 plays either 5 or 6; 4 playes either 5 or 6 etc.)
- Tournament management is free to decide on whether there should be so called "challengers" (i.e. players that, irrespective of their world ranking, are identified as potential high achievers and that are therefore given special treatment in the draw). And, if so, who these challengers should be.
- All other players should be placed at random

All Tournaments are recommended to follow the above seeding instructions for the "Top/Elite" Classes.

10) Team Event

The following is a requirement on the World Championships:
- There should be a fixed order for the matches in the team event: M1 - L - M2 - M3
- The World Ranking should be applied strictly as regards who should play in each of the matches (M1 - M2 - M3). This means e.g. that the player in M2 must not be ranked higher than the player in M1 etc.

11) Trophies for the Race

It is a requirement on the last tournament of the World Tour Race (normally the World Championship) to provide trophies for the players who finished among the top 3 in the race (both on the men's side and on the women's side if any) and organise a prize ceremony. The IRF will pay for the trophies (within reasonable limit).

12) Commitment Statement

It is a requirement on the Tournament Director of each tour event to commit in writing (e-mail) to the requirements given in this document by means of a sentence like the following:

"As the main responsible Tournament Director I hereby commit to organising GOTHENBURG OPEN on the 4-6 November 2006 in line with all requirements listed in the Requirement Specification attached below. I have firmly secured sport centre availability since I am aware that there will be players relying on these dates to the extent that they will loose money on useless flight tickets if the dates change. In addition, I have also read and understood the recommendations given in the same document."

(This "electronic signature" procedure replaces the signing of a paper contract.)

Summary of Requirements

Requirements marked "NEW" in the summary below are introduced for the first time in the 2006 tour. All other requirements have been around for some time before - either explicitly through IRF Decisions or implicitly.

Requirements on Tour Events
- Guaranteed start and end times 3 months in advance.
- Tour Status Fee (NEW: Fee raised from 1 to 2 Euro per player! Max limit removed.)
- Class naming conventions (NEW: ABCD)
- 45+ required
- The three principles of racketlon
- Orange balls
- Feathers in all classes
- Minimum 2 matches
- Nationalities marked in the draw
- No countryman in first round (NEW)
- Results in text format on Breaking News 18:00
- Results for ranking
- Two Descriptive Breaking News Reports (NEW)
- Written Commitment Statment

Additional Requirements on the Last Event of the Tour
- Trophies for the race

Additional Requirements on the World Championships
- Follow Official IRF Rules
- Special seeding requirements (e.g. pairwise)
- Special team requirements

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Revision History:
***PA1, 051002, by Hans (circulated by e-mail 051002 to all tournament directors + IRF Network)
-Based on rev M of the corresponding 2005 spec.
-Calcualtion of the Tour Status Fee changed so that it is based of the number of players in the draw rather than on actual participants. (This simplifies calculations somewhat and should not make much difference in practice, given that the organiser has good routines for reserve intake etc.)
-Added recommendation to separate players of same nationality.
-Removed recommendation of 2 serves (since 5 serves won the second vote).
***PA2, 051122, by Hans (circulated by e-mail 051122 to the full IRF Network)
-Changed the criteteria for calculating the tour status fee from 1 Euro per _player_ to 1 Euro per _entry_ in the draw. This will make it a little easier to calculate the fee while not making much difference as regards the amount. (Since the organisers normally charge per entry it is also a more logical approach.)
-Clarified that players losing on walk-over must be left in the results (if they are not replaced).
-Removed the recommendation to test the Single Toss rule (under the assumption that it will be taken into the official rules when we have decided on the variant).
-Added a section on Satellite events
***PA3, 051203, by Hans (circulated to all tour directors + Council)
Changes according to the IRF Council Meeting in Vienna 051125:
-Removed the section on Satelllite events (since the Council Meeting agreed to wait with the introduction of this new concept).
-Raised the Tour Status Fee from 1 Euro to 2 Euro per player. And removed the maximum limit of 100 Euro.
-Changed the criteria for calculation of the tour status fee back to the original "per player" criteria rather than "per entry" in the draw.
***PA4, 051208, by Hans (circulated to Council by e-mail 051208 for final comments)
Changes after comments received after circulation among Council and Tournament Directors:
-Changed to the official order of sports (ba before sq) under Format.
- Restrutured and modified the chapter on classes (changed naming "O45" to "45+"; added new "ABCD" naming conventions; )
-Added a recommendation on court capacity needed.
-Added a requirement on "no countryman in first round"
***A, 051211, by Hans (approved - after Council consultations - by Hans, in his role as 2006 Tour Coordinator. To be used for commitment statements.)
-Added a requirement on two descriptive Racketlon.com Breaking News reports
-Added a seeding recommendation for _all_ tour events
-Emphasized the need to firmly secure sport centre availability in the Commitment Statement

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